Just watched the goals on SSN

And we weren't among them. Surprise surprise.

They did however show the result, with a remark about "surprise result at Oakwell"

Had no idea about Billy Sharp until tonight. Raised his shirt to reveal the message "that's for you son" after he scored.

 

I used to work at Yorkshire television and was involved in how football footage was broadcast. I know we now live in a digital world, but things are still recorded on tapes, digital tapes, but tapes all the same. Those tapes have to get to a television studio before they can be aired on television. So at Yorkshire we'd get the Leeds tapes pretty quickly because they were just down the road. We'd get the Sheffield United and Wednesday tapes quickly too as there's a studio in Sheffield. There's a studio in Hull and York and Lincoln too. But the Barnsley tapes are taken up the M1 to Leeds. So when Barnsley played at home they were often one of the last to arrive and frequently arrived after the sports bulletin so were unable to be broadcast. That is the main reason why you won't see Barnsley goals on sports updates for the first couple of hours after a game.

 

And Donny? Their goal was on Look North at 10.30.
Just the result was all the coverage we got though.

 

Why don't we take the tape to Sheffield rather than Leeds? Surely that would make more sense.

 

When there is a van with a satellite dish at the ground like the little one that sometimes parks next to the tunnel is the footage sent via satellite to the studio or is it still driven to leeds? I only ask because a few times (rarely) ive seen highlights of our home games shown on tv within 10 minutes of the final whistle.

 

I hadn't realised that. I've often wondered why we always seem to be on the last push. You'd have thought that, over the years the digital highway would have speeded things up significantly. Then you gaze up at the lone cameraman on the gantry above the west stand and think......... nah!

Sounds like a very interesting post you had there.

 

When the Links truck is there

it's broadcast to Leeds. It's not actually a satellite though, it needs a line of sight with Emley moor as it send the signal to Leeds via Emley Moor mast.

 

Because Sheffield isn't linked up with the rest of the country. Or it wasn't when I was there. I don't even know who actually shoots the footage nowadays, but when I was there... Anything that goes in to Sheffield has to be played down a line to Leeds in real time. From Leeds it can be sent to Sky or other local or international TV companies. So you can't have loads of footage going in to Sheffield as it would take ages to send the footage to Leeds.

 

Dunno

Don't know what the situation is at Donny as they used to be **** so nobody really cared about them. Did they score in the first half? Sometimes the first half tapes are taken in at half time. Or maybe the links truck was at Donny tonight. Or maybe they drove like hell to get the tapes back. Some camera men are more motivated than others. Or maybe it was an editorial decision. They could have had both Barnsley and Doncaster tapes but decided to just show Donny's goal due to the emotive nature of Billy Sharp scoring. I'd be very surprised if they had both sets of footage by half ten though.

 

Re: When the Links truck is there

Cheers jay. Very informative

 

Thanks for explaining.

 

I cant imagine in any way shape or form how high definition video footage cant (almost) instantly be sent via the web. I could send you some now from my (relatively) cheap crappy camera and (relatively) low tech standard issue laptop. You would be able to view it (almost) instantly.

Sithi. I know you are not a fan of conspiracy but I'm afraid this defence is diaphonous.

 

In reply to Jay BTW

this forum is fecking pants.

 

As far as I'm aware everything is still recorded on digital tape. The transfer of footage from digital tape to a computer to allow upload via an internet connection back to television centre is done in real time. So a 90 minute match takes 90 minutes to transfer to a computer. Then you've got to find a place with an internet connection. Then there's the time it takes to transfer the broadcast quality footage via the internet. It's quicker to take the tapes in a van.

In the Premiership it's a hugely expensive operation with multiple cameras and satellite link up and a massive team of operators. In the championship more often than not it's just one bloke (or woman) with a camera.